redfield simmons and weaver owned by same company

[wrenchman]

i was reading in ffg magazine they are owned by the same company all i can say is when did this happen and is this a good thing or bad

[jon lynn]

wrenchman, this has been in effect for quite a while now. When Redfield of Denver went bankrupt they were bought out by the Blount corporation, who owned a LOT OF STUFF WE HOLD DEAR.

Simmons, Weaver and Redfield were all lumped togeather, and HQed in Georgia(Thomasville).

For a while Blount owned Federal (and still may) and RamLine stocks.

But when Blount got a new owner after a huge sell out, the optics were sold off to Meade (all three Simmons,Weaver & Redfield), and I believe Blount kept Weaver mounts. But even if they did not, Weaver optics and mounts are not the same company. If you go to the Redfield, Simmons home pages, you will see they offer the same 'new' features, it's a copy of rainguard.

Meade swears the Redfields (now with a wing style logo)are made in the US, with who's parts we still don't know. But when I find a dealer who has the newest Redfields I will try one out and see.

But I was, or still am, a fan of Denver made Redfields, they were treading water until a huge gas leak from one of the storage tanks for purging of scopes, ruptured and sent the future of Redfield straight to China after fines from EPA & others.

I think they had the best line of optics for every hunters budget. The lowest scope (ie Tracker) to best (Illuminator & 5-Star)were all guarenteed for life (but too bad it was the life of the corperation, (FYI Mr Burris was one of the big honchos ad Redfield until he went solo).

[JimHnSTL]

the new Master Series scope line from simmons is suppose to be based on the weaver miccro-track design and after tweeking it simmons says it has as much adjustment in their 1"tube as a 30mm tube does. lots of hype coming out on this new simmons line i hope it pans out to be true. lots of folks wanting a look at the new lines. if their version of the raingaurd treatment is as good as the elite series scope then that is a big plus right there.

[fabsroman]

I cannot remember who Federal is owned by, but they stated it during a Federal commercial and it isn't Blount. Just took this off of Federal's website:

Located in Anoka, Minnesota, Federal is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Edina, Minnesota-based ATK, Alliant Techsystems. With a work force of nearly 1,000, Federal manufactures a complete line of shotshell, centerfire and rimfire ammunition and components.

Burris is currently owned by Beretta which also owns Benelli, Ulberti, Franchi, Stoeger, Tikka, and Sako. Benelli also has Federal Premium Ammunition linked on their website, but it doesn't appear that they own Federal as evidenced above, but who knows with subsidiary ownership. Burris is still made in America and headquartered in America, just owned by Beretta.

[wrenchman]

i have a couple of the simmons 44 in 2x7 i like the scope i have noticed they have stoped makeing it

[jon lynn]

fabsroman..............You scared me, I thought I was suffering Gulf War Syndrome,(I am getting absent minded these days) but I wrote Blount and they actually answered


Here is what some desk jokey sent me:

You are correct. Blount purchased the Federal Cartridge company in
November 1997 and sold it in December 2001.



Not what you would call an impressiave ownership era.

[Dutchboy]

Federal, CCI, Speer and Alliant Powders are now all owned by ATK (Alliant Tech), a major defense contractor (including, IIRC, Thiokol, who makes the solid fuel engines for the Shuttle). As it was explained to me, they needed the Federal people expertise for their defense contracts in small arms, so they bought the company, lock, stock and barrel.

They have pumped quite a bit of money into these businesses, and they are coming out with new products (such as the Federal Fusion bullet).

After more than a decade of being part of a "diversified" business model, this is a great improvement. FWIW, Dutch.